Standing on the opening tee at The European Club, the sea air sharp with the scent of salt and marram grass, you know you’re about to experience something singular. Set on the windswept dunes of Brittas Bay, just 30 miles south of Dublin, this modern links has already earned a place among Ireland’s finest.

The course is the life’s work of Pat Ruddy, Ireland’s great golf writer-architect, who carved 20 holes through towering dunes, giving golfers an exhilarating mix of championship test and natural beauty. At over 7,300 yards, it is long and exacting, yet every hole is framed with character – from the serpentine fairways and deep sod-walled bunkers to the stretch of holes skirting the Irish Sea.

There’s pedigree, too: Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington have all teed it up here. The atmosphere is pure links golf – elemental, dramatic, timeless. A round at The European Club is both a challenge and a privilege, a crafted modern classic on Ireland’s east coast.